Blog

February 2, 2021

Greg Thomas

The “Extra” Remote Work

We know we’re all doing it. We check our email another few times. We put the polish on that last piece of code, work, idea so we can “jump” in tomorrow. We try to replicate our old routines in the remote world but they don’t quite fit so then we try and figure them out a little more. When it’s just you that’s remote, the extra isn’t as much as it normally is, but when everyone is remote, the extra grows, it grows because we’re all in the same boat and we’re all trying to figure it out. Put the

February 1, 2021

Greg Thomas

Debugging and Troubleshooting

If you can do either, you’re a developer ahead of the game of many others. These are two of the most important skills when becoming a developer because at their core they speak to creating and fixing code. Debugging – Walking through your own code to see if there are errors and/or running your own code to replicate errors. Troubleshooting – Getting an error sent to you that requires you to dig through the code you built and the tools you have given yourself to identify the source of the problem. One supports the other. Over time, I have become

January 31, 2021

Greg Thomas

It’s Cold Out

I think it was Grade 10 or 11 and I was reading a book by Farley Mowat – perhaps Never Cry Wolf? To be honest, I can’t remember. But what I do remember is this one line that he wrote in it that went something like this (paraphrasing) – “When it’s cold outside, it’s the only time we can feel alive.” It’s cold outside. I can vouch for this and it’s a great feeling.

January 30, 2021

Greg Thomas

When it Comes Together

The Master Plan. The weeks of bug fixing. The final project push. Taking ownership of your work. Learning a new language. Creating a new learning hack. Building a new program. Whatever it is you are doing, the best moment, is when it clicks, when it comes together. It doesn’t mean you are done, it simply means that it’s possible, that their is light and now the heavy work can start. That’s the go ahead that we’re all looking for, when can the heavy work begin.

January 29, 2021

Greg Thomas

Equipment Goes Zoom

I had a horrible mic experience this past week recording and an episode of Remotely Prepared – turns out my mic defaulted to the wrong one and when I listened to the recording. It sounded like I was four tunnels below the surface, eating a sandwich. Not exactly the pristine quality we were hoping for. After realizing we would have to re-record, I then went through the arduous task of disabling mics I don’t use (since I have a solid boom mic) and doing test recordings in both Audacity and ZOOM – to make sure things worked the way they